“Southbeach bringin the heat uh.
Haha can yall feel that
Can yall feel that
Jig it out uh…”
These words were the first rap lyrics James had ever heard. The song Miami by Will Smith, spirited his openness to hip hop music. Originally he would only listen to country music. Now his iTunes library is filled with an extensive variety of music. It’s hard for him to work on homework with music in the background, he says, “Music, more, helps me procrastinate.” And it definitely serves as a fun outlet; he loves to sing out loud in the car!
James was born in Southport, North Carolina, a small town near Long Beach. His dad works for the power company Congentrix, which caused his family to move. While James was still young they moved to Chester, Virginia, and lived there for ten to eleven years. Then they moved one last time, landing in Smithfield, Virginia, where he spent his four years of high school uninterrupted. His Smithfield house is the one he thinks of as his home.
Smithfield is also where he met his girlfriend of almost a year now, Sarah Waters. They met first at a party in ninth grade where she claims, “he was really mean to me.” But at the second party they met at four years later, James proved to be much more polite. Later that night they stayed up and watched Hitch together (Will Smith played the leading role*, there obviously is a theme). “It’s our movie,” they say in unison smiling at me and then at each other.
Sarah knows plenty about James, she says he almost always wears earth colors, lots of green and she knows a lot about his family. James has one older brother named Jonathan who is a super senior Radford University. James and Sarah agree James is more of a Mama’s boy, James explains, “probably because she’s a girl.” But he still gets along with his dad really well. One of his favorite childhood memories is from when he lived in North Carolina. He and his grandpa would play baseball with plastic Wiffle balls, and a bright, shiny plastic, fire engine red bat. “FlopFlop”, his grandpa’s nickname that Sarah chimes in with, would pitch the balls to him and he would attempt to hit them; this was one of their favorite activities. Clearly the people in his life are important to him and sit high the hierarchy of his thoughts and feelings.
"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."
This quotation from Forest Gump has always stayed with James. His life can relate to this; he’s traveled far, been involved in many activities, and has been diagnosed with a serious disease: Fatty Liver Disease. This is caused by excess fat around the liver, the symptoms include severe and minor pains in the abdomen. James was diagnosed with this when he in the eleventh grade. Because of his hard work and steadfast commitment, he completed a program that dubbed him cured, just before summer vacation. He lost between twenty and thirty pounds in less than a year, “graduated” from his doctor’s office, and was equipped with a hot new beach body. He still suffers from high blood pressure, which are stubborn and genetic, so he can’t do anything to cure it.
James is a very intelligent leader, volunteer, and student, and people notice. When he was in 8th grade he went to the Bahamas with his church youth group, to help repair houses of the less fortunate. He spent his week there stripping and painting houses, while his partners repaired roofs, an experience, which was very rewarding.
He was also chosen to participate in People to People student ambassadors program. As part of this program he had the privilege of traveling to France, Italy, and Malta, for two weeks. He visited some of the most beautiful, famous, sites in the world, while learning leadership techniques. It also required that he journal about his experiences of the day nightly, which he claims was the worse part because he is not a huge fan of writing, hence his engineer major goals. He also has dreams of going to Greece, because of all the Latin he took in high school.
No, James is not a minority in our English class, due to his declared engineering major, but his intended use of these skills is unique. He aspires to go into the biomedical field, specifically prosthetics. Artificial limbs have come a long way since they were first created. Instead of wood and bulky metal, they are lighter and much more functional. They have even begun to look at making robotic limbs and prosthetics, which can be attached directly to the bone. “The anatomy class I took my senior year really got me interested in the body, and then specifically into this field. He has ambitions to make artificial limbs look real and completely natural. His interest in making these products better for the disabled, further proves his devotion to people.
“That’s ridiculous”
That’s the phrase that comes out of James’ mouth the most. He seems genuinely happy and incredibly nice, even with all the stresses of being an engineer student at a school with one of the best programs for that major. He seems to have his life very balanced; he works hard, but also knows how to appreciate life.
He loves driving around and hanging out with Sarah, and they spend a lot of time together, especially now that she attends Virginia Tech. They both know how to dance the Salsa because of the lessons they took together-not your typical dinner and a movie date! Through the entire interview Sarah and James finished each other’s sentences and it was clear that they loved being together no matter what, even when waking up at 9:30am on a Saturday to be interviewed. When asked what they disagree about most, their response, once again in unison, was “nothing! We agree on everything.”
If nothing else in this profile makes you want to befriend him, here are the random little quirks that you may have in common with him. He loves to play tennis, pool, and ping-pong, so if you ever need a partner call on James. Hamburgers are his favorite food and Wendy’s is his favorite fast food, because he loves their chicken sandwiches. He plays video games, obviously. I don’t think there’s an engineer major who doesn’t. Halo is his favorite game, “because it was so original,” Sarah says. He does have a Facebook (so friend request him!), but, paces his usage, and admirably only visits the site four to five times a week. If he was a car, he would be a Corvette ’68, the stingray model, silver, with black stripes,” a response which he rattles off instantly, it’s his favorite car.
Well I thought I commented on this before but it did not go through. Oh well. I really like how you put this together. James and his girlfriend seem really attached and like a great couple.
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